Panel that disciplines judges in the spotlight after judge allowed to quietly retire

Panel that disciplines judges in the spotlight after judge allowed to quietly retire

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Updated: 7:29 PM EST Mar 9, 2017

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WEBVTT BE FIVE INVESTIGATES THESECRET ESCAPE COMMISSION INCHARGE OF DISCIPLINING JUDGESHERE IN MASSACHUSETTS.EMIL THEY ARE RAISINGQUESTIONS ABOUT WHETHER IT ISGOING EASY ON JUDGES.>>A FORMER STATE LAWMAKERWHOSE NOMINATION TO TH BENCH IN1996 WAS CONTROVERSIAL IN ITSELFOVER HIS DISREGARD FOR THEFEELINGS OF WOMEN ANDMINORITIES.THE FIRS JUSTICE PLACED ONADMINISTRATIVE LEAVE LAST JUNE.THE COMMISSION ON JUDICIALCONDUCT ISSU THIS PRESSRELEASE.ACKNOWLEDGING A COMPLAINTALLEGING HE MADE INSENSITIVERACIAL COMMENTS TO ANOTHERJUDGE, SAYING RETIRED BECAUSEOF THE COMPLAINT AND FOR FAMILYHEALTH REASONS.NO OTHER INFORMATION WASRELEASED.>> DOESN'T THE PUBLIC DESERVESTO KNOW WHY HE'S OFF THE BENCH?>> BY STATE LAW AND NOT ABLE TOGET INTO THE COMPLAINT.REPORTER WE ASKED WHY IT IS SOSECRETIVE.>> STA LAW DOES RESTRICTINFORMATIO, OUR ABILITY TORELEASE INFORMATION ABOUT THECOMPLAINT.IN MOST COMPLAINT MAKE ADETERMINATION IF THE JUDGE DIDNOTHING WRONG AT ALL.>> IINCLUDES THEY DESCRIPTIONS3000 COMPLAINTS IT HASRECEIVED.NUMBERS TELL ANOTHER STORY.90% OF COMPLAINTS WEREULTIMATELY DISMISSED.THE COMMISSION EXPRESSED CONCERNABOUT THE JUDGE'S CONDUCT ANDRESOLVED 33 COMPLAINTS INCLUDINGPRIVATE REPRIMAN AND VOLUNTARYRETIREMENT.TH COMMISSION HAS NOT ISSUEDFORMAL CHARGES AGAINST THE JUDGESINCE 2007.>> SOME PEOPLE MAY SAY THECOMMISSION IS GOING EASY ONJUDGES.WHAT DO YOU SAY?>> NOT AT ALL.>> JOHN HAD A RUN-IWITH FAMILYCOURT JUDGE MICHAEL LIVINSTONE, THE LAST JUNK TO FACEFORMAL CHARGES.HE WAS JAILED IN2007 FOR NOTPAYING CHILD SUPPORT EVEN THOUGHHE HAD PROOF HIS EMPLOYERWITHHELD THE MONEY.>> I WAS DUMBFOUNDED.>> THE COMMISSION STARTEDINVESTIGATING H OVER BUSINESSDEALINGS TWO YEARS EARLIER WHICHLED TO A PUBLIC APOLOGY FROM THEJUDGE AND HIS RESIGNATION THEYEAR AFTER.HE BELIEVES THE COMMISSIONSHOULD HAVE ACTED MORE QUICKAND A DIFFERENT JUDGE MAY NOTHAVE LOCKED HIM UP.IF THE JUDGE HAD DONE HIS JHE WOULD NOT BEEN ON THE BENCH.>> MARIA LOPEZ RUNS THECOMMISSI.AFTER THE COURTROOM OUTBURST,SHE RESIGNED THREE YEA LATERTO RESOLVE CHARGES FILED AGAINSTHER BY THE COMMISSION.SOME BELIEVE THE SUPREMEJUDICIAL COURT STRIPPED THEINDEPENDENCE AFTER REQUIREMENTCOMMISSION TO GO TO THE STATE'SHIGHEST COURT TO TAKE THE MOSTSERIOUS SANCTIONS AGAINST THEJUDGE LEAVING THE BOSTON GLOBEEDITORIALIZE IT D FAME THECOMMISSION.DID YOU FEEL PRESSURE TOPROTECT FELLOW JUDGES?>> NO.NEVER.>> ITHIS AN EFFECTIVE SYSTEM?>> I THINK IT IS.>> THE COURTDECLINED TO COMMENTON WHETHER IT WEEK IN THECOMMISSION.WE TRIED TO TALK TO JUDGE CREEDEHIM ABOUT THIS CASE AND HE NEVERGOT BACK TO US.>> TWO OTHER STATES OPERATE LIKETHIS?>> THAT ARE VERSIONS OFCOMMISSIONS IN ALL 50 STATES.

Panel that disciplines judges in the spotlight after judge allowed to quietly retire

Massachusetts District Court Judge Michael Creedon called it quits in September under a cloud of controversy, retiring in the face of an investigation into whether he used racially charged language to another judge.

His retirement ended the investigation, and also ended the public’s ability to know what, if anything, he said, and to evaluate the thoroughness of the investigation into his alleged misdeeds.

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Creedon had been placed on administrative leave last June, but it wasn’t until October 17 that the public was provided with any information. In a scant three-sentence news release, the Commission on Judicial Conduct opened and then quickly shut the public’s window into the Creedon case, stating only that there had been a “complaint alleging that (Creedon) made insensitive racial comments to another judge.”

“Because of this complaint and for family health reasons, Judge Creedon retired as a judge on September 19, 2016 and has agreed not to seek appointment as a recall justice,” the release said.

“Doesn't the public deserve more information about why Judge Creedon is off the bench?” 5 Investigates’ Mike Beaudet asked Howard Neff, executive director of the Commission on Judicial Conduct.

“By state law, I’m not able to get into any specific complaint,” Neffreplied. While state law restricts what the commission can say about complaints, the commission executive director and chairman both say they find that in most complaints, the judge did nothing wrong. 5 Investigates analyzed the commission's annual reports over the last decade. There are vague descriptions about the more than 3,000 complaints it's received, but the numbers tell another story.

More than 90 percent of complaints that got a closer look were ultimately dismissed

But in 50 dismissals, the commission expressed concern about the judge's conduct

The commission has not issued formal charges against a judge since 2007.

“Some people might look at the number and say, ‘The commission's going easy on judges,’” Beaudet asked Neff and John J. Carroll, chair of the Commission on Judicial Conduct.

“They do say that,” Carroll replied.

“So what do you say?” Beaudet responded.

“No, no. Not at all,” Carroll answered. “Not if you’re going to enforce the law. Is the commission to extend and overdo the harshness of the law just to please people who think we’re being too soft? I don’t think so. That’s not right.”

John Caliri said he never interacted with the commission, but he believes there isn’t enough oversight. He had a run-in with Probate and Family Court Judge Michael Livingstone, the last judge to face formal charges in Massachusetts.

Judge Livingstone jailed Caliri in 2007 for not paying child support even though Caliri had proof his employer withheld the money. The problem was, his employer never paid his ex-wife, but Livingstone didn’t want to hear it and sent Caliri to jail.

“I was dumbfounded,” he recalled.

Caliri had no idea that the commission started investigating Judge Livingstone over his business dealings two years earlier, which led to a public apology from the judge and his resignation the year after Caliri was jailed.

He believes the commission should have acted more quickly, and that a different judge might not have locked him up.

“If the commission did their job, Judge Livingstone probably wouldn't have been on the bench back when he heard" the case. Caliri said. “And I would have never had to be placed in incarceration.”

Perhaps the most notable case heard publicly by the commission was the one involving Superior Court Judge Maria Lopez, whose courtroom outburst in 2000 against a prosecutor and her subsequent actions afterward led her to resign three years later to resolve formal charges filed against her by the commission .

But some believe the Supreme Judicial Court stripped the commission of its independence in 2006, after requiring the commission to go to the state's highest court in order to take the most serious sanctions against a judge. One newspaper even editorialized that the SJC had defanged the commission.

But one former member of the commission said that even though it operates in secret, it’s far from an old boys club.

The Judicial Conduct Commission is made up of three judges, three lawyers, and three laypeople appointed by the governor.

“Is this an effective system?” Beaudet asked him.

“I think it is. I really and truly do,” Barton replied.

The trial court declined to comment on whether the SJC weakened the commission, but the commission's executive director says the SJC simply clarified its role and has not stopped the commission from disciplining judges.